After the NBA deployed its plan to go ahead and continue All-Star festivities during the pandemic season, I wrote about the individuals I believe deserve to start for the Eastern All-Stars. So naturally, this was the follow-up to that. Here are my selections for the 2021 Western NBA All-Star starters:
Backcourt player: Stephen Curry
Heading into the season, a vast flock of Curry haters were wishing for the downfall of Steph Curry, praying that he would get exposed without All-Star talent around him. That flock was louder than ever a handful of games into the season because Steph Curry was seriously struggling with the increased level of attention he was receiving from the defence, and the Warriors couldn't buy a win. Well, from that point onward, Curry has made every single one of his haters eat their words.
It all started when Curry broke out of his shooting slump against the Portland Trailblazers, exploding for 62 points on 8 for 16 shooting from three-point range. And the tear has only continued, not long after, Curry dropped 57 points on the Mavericks whilst making 11 threes, including one from the Dallas logo.
There is no denying that Curry struggled to adapt to receiving all the defensive attention, but once he did, he has been nothing short of special. After his rough start to the season, Curry is now recording numbers that are almost identical to his unanimous MVP season. On the season, Curry is recording averages of 30 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, on essentially 50/40/90 shooting splits. Steph Curry has once again made it clear to the ignorant skeptics why he is unanimously regarded as the greatest shooter to ever grace the sport.
Backcourt player: Donovan Mitchell
I am a firm believer in the fact that the top handful of teams in the league should be awarded a starter in the All-Star game because at the end of the day the aim of the game is to win. Well, the Jazz has been more than just one of the top handful of teams in basketball. Up to this point, the Utah Jazz have been dominant, they hold the best record in the league at 22-5, and have won 17 of their last 18 games! They are also the only team in the league that ranks top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Although this incredible level of play from the Jazz has been a complete team effort, there are two individuals who deserve a bulk of the credit, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. After suffering a heartbreaking series loss to the young Denver Nuggets in last year's playoffs, these two have done an exceptional job leading their team to play with tremendous effort on both ends of the floor, with Mitchell spearheading the offence and Gobert spearheading the defence.
The only reason I gave Mitchell the nod over Gobert is that finding an offensive catalyst that can break the initial line of defence to create opportunities for themselves and others is more valuable than any defensive player in today's league. Also, unfortunately for Rudy, the frontcourt lineup for the Western Conference is way too star-studded to make a viable case for Gobert.
Frontcourt player: LeBron James
I mean, does this one even need an explanation? Lebron James just continues to defy father time and everything we thought we knew about sports science. He is in his eighteenth season in the league, and you could still make the argument that LeBron James is better than he has ever been and he is still on the ascend.
At age 36, LeBron still holds the title for the best player in the world, he still might be the most athletic player in the league, and he still continues on his quest to win more championships.
After he won his fourth championship and the NBA announced the shortest turnaround in league history, many expected LeBron to take games off, load manage, and coast through the regular season. And who could blame him? The man is 36 years of age!
Surprisingly, LeBron chose to do the exact opposite. So far this season, Lebron has played in every game, has played with more effort on the defensive end of the floor in comparison to previous years, and has averaged his usual 25 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, all while leading the Lakers to the two seed in the competitive Western Conference. If he keeps up this level of play, 36-year-old LeBron James might win league MVP honours, when hardly anybody at that age has even played at a near All-Star level.
Frontcourt player: Kawhi Leonard
After blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in what might have been the biggest choke job in NBA history, the Los Angeles Clippers, and more specifically their two all-stars, have been on a revenge tour. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard have been monsters on both sides of the basketball, and both of them are having career years. It was almost impossible choosing one over the other because they have been identical replicas of each other. I mean look at these stats :
Kawhi Leonard: 27 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists on 51/39/88 shooting splits
Paul George: 25 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists on 51/48/90 shooting splits
You really couldn't go wrong with either one because both of them have been just as dominant as the other, but I gave Kawhi the slight edge because he is the better player and he is the Clippers franchise cornerstone.
Frontcourt player: Nikola Jokic
After leading his Denver Nuggets to two 3-1 series comebacks and the Western Conference Finals, Jokic has seemingly taken another leap as a player. Jokic's box score this season look like something straight out of a video game. The Serbian center is averaging 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists, on 56 percent shooting from the field, 38 percent shooting from three-point range and 86 percent shooting from the free-throw line,
I couldn't believe those numbers when I was typing them. Jokic is unanimously regarded as the greatest passing big man of all time, but for a center to average 9 assists is just unheard of.
This was also the first time when Jokic came into the season in shape and it has clearly made a difference. In previous seasons, we saw Jokic shy away from taking on a primary scoring role in the earlier part of the season due to his poor conditioning and then grow into that role as he played himself into shape. To start this season, Jokic has been aggressively looking for his own offence and the results have been fruitful, Jokic is averaging eight post-ups per game and 1.06 points per post-up, which is second to only Joel Embiid.
Jokic has seemingly found the perfect balance between his unstoppable low-post scoring and his all-world passing, and the product has turned Jokic into one of the league's best players and has turned the Nuggets into one of the league's best offences.
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